In the late afternoon, on this cool summer day…Ex-shin, coming from an early morning mission, finds his way in a place called The Grub Hub Bar.The Grub Hub Bar is a small restaurant with many different varieties of food and drinks available for all who come by. Ex-shin stumbles to an empty booth and puts his head down, complaining about this morning. "Why am I the only person that had to wake up at 3 in the morning? They told me a quick travel mission is all I had to do. Man! It took me so long too. Maybe next time they should have someone else scale half the earth looking for a damn suitcase..". Shin gets up from his seat and walks towards the bar counter where there's a tall, bulking, elderly man with an eyepatch already handling an order. "I'll be right with you son! Just finishing up this one!", after a bit of waiting, the man soon comes to Ex. "And what can I do for you, sir?". "Can I just get the variety sushi stack with a non-alcoholic glass of steampunk pressure, please?" Ex asks, "Oh! And can you add an appetizer of you guys' famous chips and guacamole too?". The bartender gives him a smile and nods, yelling out a unique nickname for the order. "One steampunk paradise, coming up!". A chime travels through the Grub Hub as someone enters. A man walks in, his black spiky hair shuffling as he stops halfway analyzing the booths. After a few seconds he makes his way to Ex-Shin's booth, "Is this seat taken?". Shin raises his head, capturing the man's figure. "Well, well. Don't you look like a walking skyscraper…And nah, this seat isn't taken, you can sit here if you want.",
Ex gestures. The man sits down adjacent to Shin, analyzing him momentarily before saying, "The name's Grim'Lok." "Cool name," Ex compliments, "Ex-shin. Nice to meet you, Grim. Can I call you that? What made you come here?" Grim'Lok smirks slightly before picking up a nearby menu and burying his head inside it "Sure you can call me Grim, if i can call you Ex. I'm here for a quick meal, I'm actually on a mission as we speak."
Ex tilts his head in understanding and interest, "Really now? You gotta tell me about that soon. And you said that you're here for a meal? Have you been here before Grim?" Grim'Lok whose head is still buried inside the menu says "First time actually, I was recommended this place by a traveler I met not too far from here. You?". "I just started coming here more often recently. First time in months that I've sat down in here. I actually came back from a mission myself. And Plus, I'm waiting on my food now.". Almost as if on cue the bartender appears in eye sight carrying Ex's food, "You mean that food?" Grim'Lok asks with a raised eyebrow. Shin takes the food while saying thank you to the bartender, his stack of sushi rolls towering on a plate away from him along with his chips, dip, and drink. Ex eats a roll, offering Grim'Lok one while he waits, "Yeah, I mean this food. You want a snack while you wait for yours? Trust me, this'll be the best roll of sushi you will ever put your hands on." Grim'Lok nods as he puts his menu down, "I'll have the fried squid." He says taking the roll of sushi from Ex while handing the menu to the bartender. He inspected the roll for a second before taking a bite, "this is a delicacy where I come from ya know?" The bartender's footsteps echo before being drowned out by the other patrons.
A young man entered into the bar sending a chime throughout it, the young man's presence caused the air around him to stink of death while his eyes seemed to glow like constant moonlight.The young man's eyes scanned around noticing the noticeable taller man sitting across from a man of average looking height, their presence and appearances drew his attention making him approach, "Would you mind if I joined". Ex-shin, in a much brighter mood than before, welcomes him kindly, "I'm sure we wouldn't mind another, right Grim? This guy kinda looks badass.". Grim'Lok scoots over making room for the man, "The more the merrier." The young man sits next to the walking skyscraper, "thanks for welcoming me". "No problem. But would you be kind enough to share your name, stranger?", Shin chuckles.The young man laughs nervously, brushing his shaggy black hair out of his face, "Yeah my bad the name's Juno". Grim'Lok analyzes the surrounding area for a brief moment before cracking his neck, "My name is Grim'Lok.".
"Juno huh?", Ex-shin says, "The name's Ex-shin, but just call me Ex for short. Y'know, I have a best friend named Juno as well.". Juno raised an eyebrow chuckling slightly, "really what are the chances huh?", "Yeah" Ex responds. The bar goes quiet just for a minute, nothing is heard but the clanging and clashing of cooking utensils, and the yelling of the old bartender. "My food sure is taking much longer than yours." Grim'Lok mutters, eyes one of the sushi rolls on Ex-Shin's plate. The bartender suddenly appears in Grim's eyes, handing his fried squid with sauce. "You must mean that food.", Shin smirks. Grim'Lok takes the food, setting it down in front of him within a flicker, "So Juno, what brings you here?". Juno motioned for the bartender, "Honestly i was just exploring around i'm new to the area". "That's interesting, where are you from?" Ex asks. Juno chuckles lightly, "A place called the Ragnarok Church". "Whoa, now I'm not very religious but that seems like a place I'll visit. Is it deadass a church?". Juno laughs, "In a way it's a church but it's also just as much an organization with different divisions". "Oh yeah? I work for an organization, you ever heard of OMEN?" Grim'Lok asks as he takes a bite of his fried squid, "You know what would go good with this right now? Orasac Punch.". Juno slightly raises an eyebrow as he also notices the bartender coming, "uh me personally I haven't heard of OMEN but it sounds cool", "Same here. Personally tho, I work for the government." Ex adds.
Grim'Lok looks at Ex-Shin, then Juno, seeing if they see what he's seeing. "Have you two realized it yet? That we're in an illusion?". Ex laughs out louds, flipping back his dreads. "And here I thought you two were part of it! I wanted to see how long I could drag this illusion out before finally getting bored.". Juno shrugged, slightly rubbing his eyes, "this isn't the first time i've experienced an illusion this low", Grim'Lok slammed his palm down on the table, "Release!" Suddenly a blinding flash envelopes the area, "Definitely not what I expected." Juno squinted at the bright flash slightly, "pretty bright", "Right?" Ex-shin says, looking at Juno. Suddenly Grim'Lok flickers disappearing into a blur before appearing standing next to the booth. "I don't know about you two but I'm gonna find whoever put an illusion on the booth." Suddenly Grim finds Ex's hand on his shoulder, "I don't mind an adventure with y'all. Besides, whoever did this really pissed me off. Though I have to give 'em credit for making my fake food taste good. And you, Juno?".
Juno cracked his knuckles rubbing his scarred hands, "Of course my mentor would be disappointed in me if I let this slide". "Well that settles it..can we leave now? I want to destroy this building.", Shin says while tapping his foot a little. Juno shrugged, "sure go ahead I don't care", Grim'Lok nods, "Sure. After I've left." He says as he starts walking towards the exit, he adjusts his utility belt and jacket. "You going with him, Juno?". Juno took a seat on one of the booths tables, "Nah i want to see your technique". "I'll let you see it at a later time.", Ex then smirks, "Yeah, nah I'm not doing nothing fancy". Ex-shin stomps on the ground, causing the area around them to shake. "C'mon, let's go, I wouldn't want the debris to fall on you", says Ex as he head towards Grim. Grim'Lok chuckles, "You just showing off your strength huh?", a piece of the roof crashes down nearby. Juno gets up from the chair dodging a piece of debris, "c'mon man i'm tired of collapsing buildings", Juno grabs a platter of sushi before slipping between falling debris getting outside. The three all finally moved out of the Grub Hub Bar, meanwhile, letting the building fall completely. Juno eats a piece of sushi, "wow you were right Ex this illusion food is actually pretty good", Juno then offers the platter to the two, "Want some before this illusion is over", Grim'Lok shakes his head in denial, "I'm more into solids that don't disappear after a limited time." He analyzes the surrounding area, "Isn't it crazy how they predicted that we'd all end up at that same booth, or do you two think it was coincidence?".
Ex thinks for a while, "Well I definitely don't think it was coincidence..they definitely knew something about us beforehand.". Juno nodded, "I believe it was planned. because isn't it weird how we all haven't heard of each other's organization?". Grim'Lok looks up at the sky then at his hand, "I'm sensing a trail.". "Where?" Ex asks. Grim'Lok turns to them briefly, "It's chikara, and it's dark too. Don't fall behind." He bolts forwards following the trail like a hawk. "Now don't say that like I'm slow!", Shin dashes toward Grim, keeping up with relative ease. "Gods aren't you both fast", Juno Sprints fast enough that each footstep craved a print in the ground. Grim'Lok leaps into the air landing on top of a building. "Not high enough." Ex lands next to him, followed by Juno. "How high do you plan to go? Y'know the highest building isn't even that tall.", Ex says. Grim'Lok's walks to the edge of the building. "That mall is where it's coming from." He points in the distance at a large utopian style mall looming in the distance. "The energy from in there reeks of sin. And I hear multiple odd mumbles. Yeah, this is totally the place." Shin judges the mall. Juno steps off the roof letting himself fall, "Then why are we waiting?", Grim'Lok summons chikara into his legs, getting covered by a light red aura. "I plan on getting there now!". Ex-shin, with both hands in his pockets, leaps down from wall to wall gracefully until meeting up with the others. "Soooo..I hope we don't destroy this mall with all these people in it.".
Juno laughs looking back as he lands cracking the concrete, "Isn't that like jinxing it","Damn you're right," Ex additionally says, "It's too late to take it back huh?". Grim'Lok grins, "Flicker!" his body leaves a blurry afterimage as he disappears, reappearing in front of the mall. "If it comes to it I will evacuate civilians. That is the way of OMEN." He says as he waits for the others. Juno pushes a parked car out of his way getting to the front of the mall, "wow dude that sounds like something out of a comic book", "Did you have to push the car? I mean, sure, it was in the way, but just go around next time if you can." Shin suddenly adds. Juno laughed, "believe me my mentor would've booted it a hundred feet and I kinda picked up on his habits". The three young men all went inside the mall, finding it to be normal at firsthand. "Man, I am so ready to kick ass! I can't wait to find these people. I've been craving a fight since I woke up at 3 in the morning.".Juno looked at Ex-shin, "are you a battle junkie or something why have you been up since 3?", "I'm not a junkie, I just enjoy the thrill from time to time, and I had to run half the Earth looking for a damn suitcase…" Ex-shin says plainly. Grim'Lok chuckles, "I believe you for the most part, except the battle junkie part." He eyes a store in the distance and wanders off before anyone has time to reply.The others follow behind him. Juno, Ex-shin, and Grim'Lok…they all look inside the store Grim approached.
Once stepping in, a terrible wave of negativity invades their aura. Juno looked around feeling the energy, "this isn't normal", "Far from it.." Shin said, walking up to the front counter. Before Ex could even say anything, the worker whispers, "Hey, kid…! That tall guy you're hanging around with, care to bring him up here? He piques our interest.". Unknowingly, the worker pulls off an ear to ear smile, reaching under his station, grabbing a dagger. Juno walks around in the shop seeing teal and white tracksuit sitting on a rack, "Hey i'm going to go try this on", Juno started walking towards a changing room. Grim'Lok heads off to a secluded section of the store as he looks for a black overcoat. The employee prepares to stab Ex-shin, raising his arm to do so, but Ex looks back which forces him to retract. "I gotta ask, do y'all sell all sorts of clothes here? Because I don't think I want to settle for casual clothing, not really my style, y'know?". The worker nods, and points over near Juno, breathing heavily inside, as to not get caught. Juno walks out of his changing room adjusting the tracksuit before putting its hood on, "this fits pretty well", Juno starts towards the front counter. Shin picks out a light gray, two-piece outfit.
The pants are baggy and the jacket that comes with it feels oversized a bit. "I'll be back," Shin says as he closes the changing room door. Juno walks to the front counter, the air around him was screaming of death now, it was as if the grim reaper rested on his shoulder, "You got blacked out round glasses?", Juno's eyes looked like they were covered in a frosty mist. Ex walks out next to Juno, changed and all, "Grim! How long are you gonna take? We're almost ready to go.". Grim'Lok walks towards them, dawning a black trenchcoat with his hands in his pocket. "How much for this?" His eyes gaze around the store for a moment as the cashier tries to speak up. After the cashier takes a breath to speak, Ex-shin speaks up first. "Why are we paying again? Isn't this the place we felt that negativity from when we stepped in?". Juno shrugged looking at the cashier, "well then they probably know where's the energy is coming", Juno reached for grabbing the cashier's collar staring into their soul, "why don't you speak up". Terrified, the cashier, with all his might, slams down on a button, opening up a trap door under them all, falling hundreds of feet down into the dark.
Juno Kept a hold of the cashier's collar using them as a cushion. Grim'Lok as he's falling summons chikara into the soles of his feet, sticking them to the wall and stopping his momentum completely. He takes a moment to analyze the place they've found themselves in. "Looks to be a cellar, under the mall? Maybe my mission was leading me here.". Shin keeps falling, arms crossed as he waits to land. Juno crashed into the ground using his human cushion, "ahh man that was a rough landing", Juno gets up, putting his foot on the person's back, looking up at the two. Ex crashes down right beside Juno, the ground below breaking apart. Grim'Lok upon seeing the man get flattened under Juno, leaps towards the ground barelining like a comet. "Juno you imbecile!" He says as he crashes in front of them leaving a crater in the ground. "Let's keep the civilian casualties to a minimum." He demands as he starts walking through the cellar. Juno looked back to Grim'lok as the ground and air around him cried like souls were trying to escape, "What did you just say?", Grim'Lok continues walking forward effectively ignoring Juno's question, "We have no time for senseless quarrels, we have an entity to catch.". "He's right, y'know, let's save this fight til the end, yeah?". Juno let out a calm breath brushing his hair away from youthfully scarred face, "Mhm sure whatever but I'll remember this well", Grim'Lok's eyes scan what's in front of them, a medieval style gate and no lever to lift it. "So, who's blowing this down?" Juno looked away from the two, seeming annoyed, "I won't be doing it","I got it." Ex-shin steps up. He places his hand on the door and it starts to glow a bright orange, incinerating the door down in no time. Ex deactivates his ability, "Let's go.". The three walk past the now empty archway, Grim'Lok stepping inside the next room immediately grimacing. "The energy is getting stronger. We're getting closer to the culprit." He says as an unnatural fog covers the ground. "But before we reach the culprit, we have to get through this guy."
Ex claims. Walking out of the shadows is a towering man, with a hulking body and an axe in one hand. He stares at the three people in front of him and grins, "I'll take this-" Before Grim'Lok can even finish his sentence Juno interrupted rushing past him in a streak of white and gold lighting, "Vesper Bolting Palm", a blinding light erupted from Juno before a deafening boom followed. "Did you kill 'em?" Ex asks, "Cause I kinda wanna hit that guy too.". Grim'Lok takes a leap back, gaining a meter of distance. "He's not dead, But he's pretty close to it." A pillar of fire burst from the ground in the form of a gigantic mouth before it bit down on the man entirely."Well if he wasn't before, he definitely is now.". Grim'Lok stared at the ground as the man's ashes gets consumed by the fog, "Unfortunately, the fog is still around." He says as he begins venturing deeper into the darkness.The sudden flames from Juno wake up the many prisoners in the division. They all yell loudly which drives more bodyguards to the area, coming in hot. Juno looked forward, feeling his irritation reach a peak, "insects are always so bothersome", Juno started to lift his hand towards them as flickers of red and yellow flame traced between his fingers. Grim'Lok watches Juno and Ex-Shin, his eyes glowing a soft blue for a moment as he analyzes every single person approaching.
"Half of these prisoners are mutated. The other half have no energy signature." He begins to walk towards them and within a second he flickers. "Knock yourselves out." He appears in front of the legion of prisoners. Juno walked beside Grim'Lok, "you should cover your eyes". Ex-shin, in the distance, begins to handle the handful of guards. He kicks one of them in the jaw, hits the other one with an overhand, slams the next, and chokeslams the last. "Boringgggg! Where are your reinforcements?". Juno lifted his hand slightly glancing to the side seeing Grim'Lok, "Burning Star", the flames in Junos hand formed a star before blasting off in a large radius turning a chuck of the legion into ashes. Grim'Lok watches with wide eyes as the prisoners are melted in front of him, he raises both his palms and slowly clasps them together, "Bravo!" His words boom through the room causing the remaining prisoners to turn to him. Grim'Lok starts to summon a ball of chikara in his hand. "Is that all you two have to display?". Ex-shin meets up with the other two, "I didn't even scratch the surface on what I can do. I'll need a better match up than some weak ass prison guards to do that. Hell, I might even jump in that pre-ordered fight you guys have going on. I'm intrigued on what you both can do.". Juno looked bored weaving between guards, Juno grabbed the neck of two of the guards, "can we just hurry this up", Juno swung the two men around hitting the surrounding guards.
The chikara ball in Grim'Lok's hand starts surging from the sheer amount of energy generated. "If you insist." He cocks his arm back before throwing it into the remaining prisoners. "EXPLODE!" immediately the chikara ball that hit a prisoner explodes causing the foundation of the cellar to start shaking and the legion to be engulfed by it. "Be careful. Your little way of OMEN will be useless if you crumble the mall above.", Ex claims.
Grim'Lok quickly retorts "I know what I'm doing.". Ex shrugs, "Well if you say so, Mr. Comic book man.". Deeper into the darkness, a huge roar was heard by the three young men, drawing all their attention towards it. Juno looked in the direction of the noise, "Seems like there's something further in", "And I don't see a reason to wait!", Shin said, dashing into the abyss. Juno held his palm out as fire formed into wisps before flying forward at lighting up parts of the abyss, "I hate pointless darkness", Juno follows after Shin weaving through the falling debris. Grim'Lok close by Juno turns to him momentarily, "So who's your master? There's gotta be someone behind that strength." Juno snaps his finger as the small wisps he created spread out wide before blowing up, lighting the abyss, "My mentor's name is Micheal and it's not that impressive when compared to my master". "My master is named Risaki Payne." Grim'Lok's words are distant, "We should catch up to Ex." he says as he begins overlapping Juno for a brief moment before watching Juno speed past him, "Maybe I'm too slow." Grim'Lok thought to himself as he followed the two.
Ex, with Juno, reaches a dead end, followed by Grim'Lok. "It's behind this wall..that's where the roar came from.". Juno looked at the wall blocking us before putting his hand on it, "it's pretty solid for something of this scale", Grim'Lok grins as he watches Juno inspect the wall, he cracks his knuckles before his arms start glowing a vibrant chikara. BOOM! Grim'Lok punches over Juno, the impact causes the wall to crumble revealing the room behind it, the distant footsteps and the shouting of guards in the distance made sure the silence is short lived. The dust clears and standing right across from the trio is a 10 meter tall, four-legged monster with spikes protruding from its entire body. The monster is surrounded by guards. From the broken wall, Grim'Lok, Juno, and Ex-shin all give a unique smile at the sight of this setting. Grim'Lok stares at the beast with a cold expression. He looks at his hands as chikara flickers around them, "This one's large, you two think you could take it?". "What's wrong? Can't do it yourself?", Ex grins as the air around all of them seems to shift as well. Juno glanced in the direction of the monster, shrugging it off, "how about you put some work in you lazy giant". Grim'Lok puts his arms above his head stretching as he slowly walks forward, "What can i say, I'm a slacker." He says as he dashes towards the beast landing a hard right that sends it staggering back.
The creature quickly retorts by swinging its left arm wildly at Grim'Lok who takes a slight backstep to avoid it. "With my technique it'll never hit me". Juno rolled his eyes, seeming annoyed, "you talk as if you're invincible", Juno finished his sentence after grabbing hold of two guards face. Ex-shin rushes past Juno, heading straight towards a group of guards. Juno gripped the two guards' faces before a sickening crunch echoed off the cave's wall dropping them both dusting his hands off, "My hands are still dry my master would be disappointed". "What's up with your master anyways?", said Ex as he backhands a guard's jaw off. Grim'Lok blocks the monster's next attack but fails to dodge the tailwhip that sends him flying into the wall kicking up smoke and debris. The monster turns to Juno and Ex-Shin temporarily takes its eyes off Grim'Lok. "Over here!" Grim'Lok's voice booms through the hall as when the dust settles he's standing unscathed with his hands in his pocket. "We're not finished.". Juno ignored the monster's stare, leaving it to Grim'Lok. Instead he shot towards a group of guards ripping through them with ease, Juno used his flames to torch most of the guards leaving only ashes before he started to send arms flying left and right.
Shin jumps up in the air and crashes down, crumbling the floor beneath, creating a small sinkhole that swallows dozens of guards. The monster drops down to all fours growling as Grim'Lok summons chikara balls in each individual hand. "Come now doggy!" He screams out as he begins rapidfire throwing chikara balls at the monster. It jumps side to side as the chikara balls explode behind it. A stray Chi ball manages to be caught by Ex-shin. Grinning, he dribbles the ball and powers up his leg, kicking the ball with such force. Another stray chi ball slammed into the back of Juno's head knocking his hood off. Juno turned back slowly and silently looking at Grim'Lok. Grim'Lok analyzes the area as the monster closes in, his eyes meet Juno's before he sees the chikara ball that Ex-Shin kicked before screaming out "BOOM!" His words cause the chikara ball to explode immediately before he jumps into the air causing the monster to run through the wall behind him to another room, his eyes stay locked onto Juno's as he slowly floats down to the ground. "Hey! Where are you going?!", Ex says, "Juno, don't you see the party's leaving? We gotta catch up.". Juno didn't speak at all, slowly unzipping his tracksuit top. White and gold lighting tore through the top of the cave as Juno's eye stayed on Grim'Lok. The two of them stare daggers at each other, Grim'Lok grins, "What?" He says as he sidesteps the monster's attack causing it to miss wildly. "I thought you were invincible?".
Juno lifted his hand towards Grim'Lok as his eyes sparked of lighting, "Judgement", Juno spoke simply and calmly. The traces of lighting became volatile. Grim'Lok's grin fades as his face turns serious, he holds his hand out to the monster in front of him. "NO more games Juno." A chikara ball flies through the monster towards Juno leaving a gaping hole in the monster as it falls to the ground. Juno puts his hand out as the chi ball melds into Juno's hand as he catches it. "The Hell are y'all doing?!" Ex says, looking at the two of them. Grim'Lok seeing Juno catching his attack, summons another in his hands. "Ask him.". "I'm asking the both of you.." Ex responds, the air around the whole room starts to heat up as he cracks his knuckles loudly, now donning a serious look himself. "I don't want us fighting right now if that means one of you, or all of us will be on bad terms. If I have to beat the sense into you two, I WILL.". Juno doesn't respond at first, "tell that inaccurate imbecile, watch himself". Grim'Lok takes a step forward, "Say it to my face!" The chikara around him starts to surge being felt by everyone in the area. Juno stepped to Grim'Lok, staring up at him, "I said watch yourself you inaccurate imbecile", Juno started to radiate a chilling and unsettling aura. Ex sighs, "You two just don't stop, huh?". Grim'Lok stares down at him, "I guess we don't." As he finished talking he flickered, appearing a few meters away from both of them.
Juno cracked his knuckles, "I think you need to settle something", as he finished his sentence he jumped back a few feet away from Ex-shin and in the opposite direction of Grim'Lok. Ex looks at them both, curious on what is to come next, "I have to remember about the people above us," he thinks to himself, "Can't have these guys tear everything up and kill them.". Grim'Lok sighs before looking up at the ceiling of the cellar. Quickly he dashes towards the hole in the wall that the monster made. "We'll settle this, after we're out. So don't forget Juno." He says as he disappears into the darkness of the next room. Juno watches as Grim'Lok runs away, his hand twitching as lighting sparks. "C'mon Juno…", Ex says, holding down his hand, "We still need to explore this place before settling anything.". With that, he then joins up with Grim'Lok. "I gotta ask…you and Juno, but first, you. What are your powers?". Hearing the word "Powers" causes Grim'Lok to break out into laughter, "Powers? Where I come from we have no powers, only chikara and kenjutsu." He says as he puts his hand on his chin, "I am one of the students of the Dipea-Kicho Dojo. My master Risaki Payne taught me chikara in 3 months. Stories say it takes 5 years or so.".
Juno who was in the same spot finally took a breath before taking a step forward disappearing in a bolt of lighting leaving burn marks on the ground. "Whoa, that's cool. I wish I could do that. But I'm good with what I have now though. …Which is a lot to be forreal with you.", Ex said, responding to Grim'Lok before they see a trail of flames stopping at their location. It was Juno. Grim'Lok turns to Juno before turning back to the darkness. "Where to now."